No Further Legal Actions Against Burjanadze's Husband Yet
Civil Georgia, Tbilisi / 9 Jun.'11 / 18:59

Despite expiration of a deadline to post a bail, no new legal actions have yet been undertaken by the authorities against Badri Bitsadze, husband of ex-parliamentary speaker Nino Burjanadze; the latter led street protest rallies, which came to a violent end on May 26 with dispersal by riot police.

Bitsadze, ex-chief of border police, who has not been arrested, was charged by the prosecutor’s office on May 30 with spearheading attacks on policemen by an organized group.  Two days later prosecutor’s office requested court GEL 100,000 bail for Bitsadze. The latter had seven days to post the bail.

Burjanadze, who said she was not aware of her husband’s whereabouts, made it clear from the very beginning that was not intending to pay any bail and denied charges brought against her husband as fabricated, which “will fail before a fair trial.”

According to the law, in case of refusal to pay bail a pre-trial detention measure can be applied against an accused. But no further actions have been undertaken against Bitsadze by the prosecutor’s office yet and he has not been even formally announced as wanted by the police. According to the Interior Ministry’s senior official Bitsadze “has apparently left the country.”

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